page_title: Bartholomew James Stubbs
section_title: Political career
hierarchical_section_title: Bartholomew James Stubbs / Political career
caption_attribution_description: English: Bartholomew James Stubbs
context_page_description: Bartholomew James Stubbs was the first sitting member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly to be killed in action while on military service for his country.
context_section_description: Stubbs's political career got off to a shaky start. His reputation as a leader of the Labour movement earned him preselection for the Subiaco electorate in the 1908 state elections. With 8 votes to 3, he was chosen ahead of Walter Richardson. However, the low voter turnout necessitated a controversial second preselection ballot, which resulted in Stubbs being deselected. In 1910, he sought election as a councillor for the Central Ward of the Subiaco Municipality but was unsuccessful.
  The breakthrough Stubbs was looking for came in the state elections of 1911 when, by a mere 60 votes, he unseated his nemesis Henry Daglish, a former Laborite, former Premier and incumbent Minister of Works, who derogatorily referred to the Labour Party as "Stubbs & Co".
  According to the Speaker of the House, Michael Troy, Stubbs soon proved to be "an able, earnest and conscientious parliamentarian", who among other things had fought to promote humanitarian social measures. He narrowly defeated Daglish again in the elections of 1914, this time by just 46 votes.
  The press dubbed him "Subiaco Stubbs". This was to distinguish him from "Wagin Stubbs", another political opponent by the name of Sydney Stubbs, the member for Wagin, and former mayor of Claremont and Perth. Although they shared the same name and both hailed from Victoria, that's where the similarities ended. Their verbal attacks on each other in parliament left political commentators quite bemused.
  The name Stubbs soon became synonymous with Subiaco for other reasons as he showed himself to be a resolute man of principle as well as an affable man of the people. Actively involved in the sporting and cultural affairs of the electorate, he was a delegate of the Subiaco Football Club on the committee of the West Australian Football League; he was patron of the Subiaco Junior Club; and on several occasions he took delight in declaring the cricket season open for Subiaco's best eleven. He was also a member of the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society, and he and his wife Alice were lauded as generous benefactors to numerous local charities and welfare organisations, such as the Silver Chain, the Prison Gate Committee (a half-way house for prisoners), the Oddfellow's Orphanage, and St. Vincent's Foundling Home.
  In times of chaos, Stubbs could quieten a larrikin crowd with his eloquence. At a political forum in Subiaco, a hostile and raucous mob kept drowning out the speakers, especially one of Stubbs's rivals. The Subiaco mayor and Henry Daglish had tried in vain to restore calm. But when Stubbs got up to speak an extraordinary thing occurred. One reporter said:
  "He was warmly cheered by those who had hooted and hissed before. He absolutely amazed the crowd by telling, and indeed convincing, them that they were on the wrong track. He insisted on fair play, and he was obeyed. Unfortunately Mr. Stubbs was the only man during the whole campaign with sufficient moral courage to command his friends to give his party opponents fair play."
  In Parliament House, the oratory of Stubbs was humorously noted in the Daily News by the satirist "Artemus":
  In the Legislative Assembly last night Mr. Dwyer said that Mr. B.J. Stubbs did not hold a monopoly of the wisdom of the House.
  
  What blasphemy is this we hear?
  
  What envy lies under that sneer?
  
  Why everyone knows
  
  That wherever he goes,
  
  The speeches of Stubbs do most clearly disclose
  
  A wisdom most deep and sincere!	
  
  Do you think that the wisdom of Stubbs,
  
  Midst commonplace things ever grubs?
  
  Not at all! On your life
  
  In political strife
  
  His wit is as keen as a razor-edged knife.
  
  When some silly opponent he snubs.
  
  Why, Wilson's a very plain bloke,
  
  And Scaddan is merely a joke.
  
  But hear Stubbs orate
  
  In the heat of debate,
  
  And you’re bound to confess that what's crammed in his plate
  
  Would amaze the most erudite folk.
  
  He's there with a quip and a jest
  
  When members are feeling depressed,
  
  And the hours flit away
  
  Nimble-footed and gay,
  
  When the House is entranced with Bartholomew J.
  
  When he really 'lets loose' at his best.
  
  Why each
caption: Jim Stubbs c. 1912
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